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Democrats Rejoice Over Ted Cruz Presidential Campaign Announcement

Democrats took to the news of Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign announcement extremely well. In fact, many Dems are rejoicing.

Top Democrats who celebrated the news on March 23 that Cruz would be running for president were delighted that the far right Tea Party star, considered by many as being too conservative and extreme to be president, was the first to put his name in the hat. For the left, Cruz’s bid means that the more momentum he accrues, “the more likely he is to push the eventual GOP nominee further to the right than that person will want to go,” according to The Hill.

Though some Democrats are excited about Cruz running and pushing Republicans too far right, others warned not to underestimate his potential.

“I recall the legend of folks in the Carter White House saying they wanted to run against Ronald Reagan. … So I approach the GOP field with a degree of humility,” former Clinton strategist Paul Begala said, adding that Cruz has “Barack Obama’s education and Sarah Palin’s politics. He could unify the three anti-establishment (GOP) factions: for the Tea Party, he engineered the government shutdown; for the Christian evangelicals, he opposes a woman’s right to choose even in the case of rape and incest; and for the libertarians, he says Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. To paraphrase (former President) George W. Bush, I would not misunderestimate Sen. Cruz.”

Many Republicans are skeptical of Cruz's presidential potential, despite support from GOP supporters who share in his socially conservative views. In a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 40 percent of Republicans said they would not consider backing Cruz in a presidential run, favoring others like Gov. Scott Walker instead.